A 30-year-old Lexington Park man who was sentenced to 15 years for felony assault for the beating death of 63-year-old Twain Belafonte Harrod Sr. has asked for a new trial and his sentence to be vacated.
Delante Javon Holley, who was sentenced in accord with a plea agreement on April 21, 2021, by Judge David W. Densford, said that his defense attorney, William Cooke, told him that his mother thought he should take the plea agreement. According to court documents, Holley said his mother later called him and asked why he accepted the plea deal.
It was noted in a court document that Holley had no prior criminal convictions before Harrod’s death in a Sept. 13, 2020, case in which Harrod, who was riding with Michele Rangel in a vehicle, stopped to try to prevent the beating of Holley’s girlfriend.
According to the document, Holley and his brother, Tyrell Marquice Birdine, 22, broke a window to the vehicle that Harrod and Rangel were in, pulled Harrod out of the car and beat him, pushed him down and kicked him to the point of unconsciousness.
Both Holley and Birdine were originally charged with first-degree murder, which included lesser charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
In May 2021, a jury returned a verdict of not guilty on a lone first-degree assault charge against Birdine. Holley was briefly charged with intimidating a witness in a separate case related to the incident, but that charge was later dropped, according to a previous Southern Maryland News report.
In the plea agreement court document, St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney Richard Fritz (R) explained to Densford that the first-degree murder charge wasn’t ultimately appropriate because the state didn’t think the killing was premeditated.
Fritz noted that the range for a second-degree murder sentence is 10 to 18 years and the range for first-degree assault is seven to 12 years. The plea called for a 15-year sentence.
Densford sentenced Holley to 25 years but suspended 10 years. He ordered him to complete five years of supervised probation upon his release. Densford said Holley would be eligible for parole in 2028.
After the beating, the men told Rangel to put Harrod back into the car or they would shoot her, the plea agreement document states, but she said she couldn’t, so Harrod and Birdine put him back. Rangel was stopped for speeding while taking Harrod to the hospital, and an ambulance completed the transportation, the document states.
The plea agreement states that Birdine’s shoes had Harrod’s blood and fluid from Harrod’s body.
According to the document, another woman said that Harrod and Birdine hit, stomped on and put Harrod back in the vehicle.
When asked on Tuesday, Sept. 27, about Holley blaming him, Cooke, an Annapolis attorney, declined to comment.
Judge Joseph M. Stanalonis signed a document on Sept. 12 setting a hearing for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in regard to Holley’s requests, which Holley said were delayed because of disfunction among guards in the penitentiary where he was housed. Holley blamed that on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holley was assisted in his filing by defense attorney Nayda Kuachusri of Baltimore.
Misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct charges from a Sept. 1, 2020, incident against Holley were apparently dismissed. According to the sheriff’s office, Holley allegedly grabbed a victim by the hair and pulled the victim up the stairs.
Birdine faces a misdemeanor assault charge from Oct. 2, 2021, in which he allegedly swung at and spat on David Michael Sullivan after walking up Sullivan’s driveway in Lexington Park. Sullivan was walking his dog and confronted Birdine, a court document states.
Sullivan then walked away, returned and Birdine allegedly swung at him again. Sullivan backed up and hit his back on a junction box, a court document states.
According to the state court’s website, a summons for Birdine was returned undeliverable on Aug. 15 and a subpoena was returned on Sept. 8. A trial in that case was set for Nov. 2-3.
Birdine also faces two misdemeanor charges for failure to obey a police officer and obstructing and hindering from Sept. 22, 2021. A summons in that case was issued Sept. 12.